16 April 2013

N is for Noise

http://www.noisecontrol.com/news-on-noise/


Spring has sprung,

The grass is green,

Boom cars make me

Want to scream.

Most years of my adult life, that’s been my clever little complaint as the weather warms up. Lovely as it is to see the end of winter, the noise level also increases, and often in most unpleasant ways. There’re the sounds of cars with blasting radios, mowers clipping the vast expanses of lawns, and the endless barking of dogs. Where I live, you can add to that the roars of farm trucks (now industrial-sized semis), heavy farm equipment, and outdoor intercoms from the nearby high school and John Deere center. O-la!

Is it any wonder I’m grateful for my diminished ability to hear? Over the past three winters, I’ve had increasing loss of hearing from Meniere’s Syndrome. It’s worse during the cold months due to inner ear pain. The hearing usually increases a bit as the temperatures warm and with accompanying changes in barometric pressure. I don’t think this year I’ll be able to get back to telephone use, or spend very much time enjoying music or movies. Restaurants with music, and other venues with ambient sound levels are also an issue. Time will tell how this impacts common activities.


“How isolating”, someone recently sympathized. But you know what? Mostly I enjoy the lack of noise. It affords me a level of peace I don’t get when I hear everything around me. I really enjoy the bliss of quiet. I can still hear many things I love. For example, my husband whistling a piece of classical music. I’d miss that, but then, I’d miss him were he gone. Loss of hearing isn’t nearly as traumatic to me as loss of sight. I had that experience for a very brief time after cataract surgery, when I couldn’t see well enough for months to be able to read or paint or do any small handcraft. Oh, my. That was like hell.

But noise? No. That I don’t miss for one second. What about you? How do you feel about noise? What kinds do you notice? Are there certain times noise is more obvious to you? Do leave me a comment, please!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Me too. Even here in the little country community, we still have cars and trucks, and tractors (which I don't mind)going up and down our road. I spend a lot of time with ear pods and several play lists.

Good post, and like your blog's new look.

Rowena said...

I hate lots of noise, and hubby hates it even more than me! Barking dogs, mowing and strimming (especially early at the weekend), road men drilling, people talking really loudly, why do people need to talk so loudly! Aargh that's about it for me.

Anonymous said...

Yes, the spring/summer always brings out the noise of traffic and planes.
Loved the topic.

Yvonne.

Anonymous said...

My husband needed to be surrounded by sound....I put my foot down at having the radio on all night and it used to bug me the way he would leave the television on even when he wasn't in the room. Now I would love to hear a television he had switched on...we all be quiet for a long, long time.

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